diff --git a/gdb/ChangeLog b/gdb/ChangeLog
index 0207bec278..940300f95a 100644
--- a/gdb/ChangeLog
+++ b/gdb/ChangeLog
@@ -1,3 +1,7 @@
+2018-10-30  Tom Tromey  <tom@tromey.com>
+
+	* main.c (captured_main_1): Check return value of bfd_init.
+
 2018-10-29  Sergio Durigan Junior  <sergiodj@redhat.com>
 
 	* common/offset-type.h (DEFINE_OFFSET_REL_OP): Delete.
diff --git a/gdb/main.c b/gdb/main.c
index 8709357e92..c71d5b557f 100644
--- a/gdb/main.c
+++ b/gdb/main.c
@@ -506,7 +506,6 @@ captured_main_1 (struct captured_main_args *context)
   textdomain (PACKAGE);
 #endif
 
-  bfd_init ();
   notice_open_fds ();
 
   saved_command_line = (char *) xstrdup ("");
@@ -517,12 +516,17 @@ captured_main_1 (struct captured_main_args *context)
   setvbuf (stderr, NULL, _IONBF, BUFSIZ);
 #endif
 
+  /* Note: `error' cannot be called before this point, because the
+     caller will crash when trying to print the exception.  */
   main_ui = new ui (stdin, stdout, stderr);
   current_ui = main_ui;
 
   gdb_stdtargerr = gdb_stderr;	/* for moment */
   gdb_stdtargin = gdb_stdin;	/* for moment */
 
+  if (bfd_init () != BFD_INIT_MAGIC)
+    error (_("fatal error: libbfd ABI mismatch"));
+
 #ifdef __MINGW32__
   /* On Windows, argv[0] is not necessarily set to absolute form when
      GDB is found along PATH, without which relocation doesn't work.  */